Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache, Die (1924) Movie Script

Die Nibelungen Die Nibelungen Dedicated to the German people Kriemhild's Revenge Canto I How Kriemhild mourned over Siegfried and how King Attilla woos her through through his ambassador, Ruediger von Bechlam. King Gunther, Margrave Ruediger von Bechlam asks for an audience. I come as ambassador of King Attilla, who is called lord of the Earth. He seeks the hand of Kriemhild, your sister, in marriage. I am afraid King Attilla does not know whom he woos. In the name of Siegfried who was murdered and whose murder lives! Bear in mind how Siegfried died! King Attilla sends me, Lady Kriemhild, to plead in his stead for your hand! Ruediger, you seem to know quite well how I am exposed to grievous wrongs in the house of my clan! Brother! Where is your brother Siegfried? My king, deliver to me the murderer of my husband! He has kept faith with me, I shall keep faith with him. This, Kriemhild, is my last word! Margrave Ruediger, Lady Kriemhild wishes to speak with you after evensong! Now is the time to keep close watch over our Burgundy, Gerenot! Tell me all about King Attilla, Ruediger! You are wooing a dead woman, Ruediger. The murderer of my husband flaunts the green sparkling sword he robbed from the dead! If somebody, my lady, would do you wrong at Attila's court, King Attilla shall know how to avenge you! Lord Margrave, swear that to me in King Attilla's name and yours! Not on the cross, Lord Margrave - on the sharp edge of your sword! My lady! Lord Hagen has robbed the Nibelungen treasure! You have my word, Margrave Ruediger! Hagen Tronje, where is the treasure? The loyal Hagen speaks: At a place, my lady, where no one can use the gold to forge weapons against the kings of Burgundy! Here ends the first Canto. Canto II How Kriemhild takes leave from her homeland, and how she was received by King Attilla. Earth, you were once soaked with Siegfried's blood. One day I shall come and drench you with the blood of Hagen Tronje! I shall return! Rest assured, I'll come back! My daughter, don't you want to bid farewell to your brother Gunther? No, mother. You travel far, Lady Kriemhild. Don't you want to make peace with your family? No, my priest. Don't you want to greet them one last time, my Lady? No, Ruediger. When Kriemhild reached the country of the Huns, spring had come to the land. The sack of gold is mine! The Queen is coming! Let us meet her, brother! The King's treasure! My lady, King Attilla's brother, Blaodel, welcomes you! Ruediger, choose a kingdom from my lands in gratitude for this wondrous woman! Ask King Attilla, Margrave Ruediger, if he is ready to make your oath his own! By my head, o queen - whoever dares to offend you, shall die a hundred deaths! Here ends the second Canto. Canto III How King Attilla besieged Rome and how Kriemhild summoned her brothers. Lord Attilla swore to turn Rome's churches into horse stables! Why does he not fulfill his oath? We went into war! Why don't we ride on? Why is Attilla's horse tethered to his tent? And when King Attilla his mount bestrode It was the world over which he rode And when he paused his whip to crack the world cried out - Woe, woe, alack What deeds are now in his mind? What is in the mind of our King? He sleeps! He sleeps! Lord Attilla, Attilla sleeps! The white woman stole and bound our lord! She uses golden tresses as cord! The white woman stole and bound our lord! She uses golden tresses as cord!! My Lord-! Kriemhild... My lord-! Kriemhild has borne you a son! Earth... O sacred Earth! A wish - have you no wish I can fulfill? If you would honor me and gladden my heart, then bid my brothers as guests to your court. Leave for Worms, Blaodel, to invite the royal brothers of my wife as guests to our court! Here ends the third Canto. Canto IV How Kriemhild receives her brothers. For over a month your brothers stayed as guests of Ruediger von Bechlarn. The minstrels sing a new song about the love between your brother Giselher, and Ruediger's only child, the beautiful Dietlind! Thus Bechlam and Burgundy are bound together: one heart, one life, one death! To honor your brothers, lord Attilla has sent the noblest of his knights, Dietrich von Bern, to greet them. Once more, dear Nibelungen, before Lord Attilla comes to greet you: Do not forget to whom Attilla will lead you! How could we forget, lord, that we come to visit our sister, Kriemhild? Whoever wants to win my gratitude, must remember my great sorrow! On the day before summer solstice the Nibelungen arrived at Attilla's court. You must be tired from your journey. Refresh yourselves and rest. Tomorrow we will celebrate the summer solstice in a very special way. King Attilla, remember your oath! He who murdered Siegfried is now in your hands! Remember my suffering! Can you never forget Lord Siegfried, woman? Hagen Tronje shall duel with me for his life! You would fight an assassin, Attilla? No, have him killed! My guest? Remember you oath, Attilla! On the life of your child, redeem it! In the desert, where I was born, there is but one thing sacred, the guest! Hagen Tronje shall be sacred as long as he regards the peace of my abode! She said: Whoever wants to win my gratitude, should remember my great sorrow! Whoever brings me Tronje's head will win a shield full of gold! But I beseech you: Do not harm the sons of my mother! Bard, play on! Here ends the fourth Canto. Canto V How the Huns celebrated the summer solstice with the Nibelungen. Is it the fashion at Worms to sit at table armed head to toe? Lord Hagen Tronje knows well, why he never lays aside his sword! Methinks, from such a feast the heir to King Attilla's crowns should not be absent! Methinks the boy has not long to live. We scarcely shall go as guests to any courts of his! Treason! The child! The work of your guest, King Attilla! Now you Nibelungen, all of my men will be against you. Safe conduct from these halls I demand for me and my following! Here ends the fifth Canto. Canto VI The Nibelungen's distress. Go, tell Lady Kriemhild what you have seen! Open the gate! Not a Hun is alive in Attilla's hall! Huns, avenge your dead! It is impossible, my Queen! Avenge your dead, Huns, and the royal child! Sister! Sister! Think of our mother! Hand over the assassin of Siegfried and you are free! The fight is too uneven. The dawn will see no Nibelung alive. With Giselher my own child will die! Lord Ruediger, stay out of it! Blood cries for blood! Call Ruediger! Now the time has come, Lord Ruediger! Redeem your oath! Margrave Ruediger, I demand from you the assassin of Siegfried! Not against Hagen Tronje, do you send me, Queen, but against your brothers who defend him with their lives! Ruediger, you swore by the sharp edge of your sword! Giselher is engaged to my only child! Blood cries for blood, Ruediger! Lord! Do not force me to kill my only child! Here ends the sixth Canto Canto VII The Nibelungen's end. Lord Ruediger stands before the gate! He will bring peace! What are you bringing us, father? Death! O Lord, do not allow that they who love, kill one another Tell them that if they deliver the murderer of my child, they may go free! King Attilla, you do not know the loyal German soul! My oath to Kriemhild is older than my oath to you! Don't force me to break my oath! Fight! Do you want me to lose my honor?! - Defend yourself Hagen Tronje! O sister, what have you wrought! Deliver Tronje to me and you are free! Rejoice in your revenge Kriemhild! Dead are your young brothers. Ruediger is dead. Dead are all his men! But Hagen Tronje, who slew Siegfried, still lives! Throw fire into the hall! O lord, fiery arrows are raining on the hall by the queen's order - the palace is burning. Lady Kriemhild is right, more than right! I myself will stand at her side when the fire will flush out Hagen, the murderer! Thank you, Kriemhild! Although we were never one in love, we are at last united in hate! Never, King Attilla, has my heart been as filled with love as it is at this moment. I wish to spare King Gunther death in the flames. I shall offer Lady Kriemhild my head! Speak, you Nibelungen. Will you buy your freedom with Hagen Tronje's head? Loyalty, which iron could not break, will not melt in fire, Hagen Tronje! Look! Volker prepares his violin for a last song! I call it a shame, Lady Kriemhild that you let heroes, who could not be beaten in battle, perish in fire's fury! Do you hear? Volker is singing! Ah, if only we were on the green, fresh banks of the Rhine! Do you hear? Volker is singing! Are you not human, lady Kriemhild-! No, I died when Siegfried died... It is finished! It is finished! Lord Attilla, there still lives one vassal! I cannot go home to my dead Siegfried until every wrong has been atoned... Lord Hagen, here is the sword. Where is the treasure? I swore not to betray the location of the treasure as long as one of my kings is alive! Now, Kriemhild, nobody knows about the treasure but God and me and God is no more discreet than I! Now, earth, drink your fill! Take Kriemhild home to Siegfried, her dead husband, for she was his and never belonged to another man! Thus ends the tale.